What a great debut! 4,25⭐️

The book takes us to a kingdom on the brink of bankruptcy and follows three very different protagonists who are all trying to take advantage of this crisis for themselves or the people. It is never quite clear who you are supposed to be rooting for. Each character pursues a goal, but fails again and again, whether out of naivety, arrogance or simply because they lack the knowledge to really understand the complex situation. This is what makes the story so exciting, because you root for them, hope that they will recognise their mistakes and learn from them, and yet everything only becomes more complicated.

I found it particularly interesting how the changing perspectives on the same situation create an incredibly multi-layered picture. This keeps the plot in constant motion and makes it feel very lively. And even if I didn't like every character straight away, I grew fond of some of them over time.

Of course, it all ends with a dramatic cliffhanger, leaving many questions unanswered, and I'm very curious to see what happens in the next book.

Also: we love maps, and this book has not one but two!